2 shots, 2 kills, one chance to live
by marinefan94
Summary: Captain Mitchell teams up with civilian sniper Roger Smith to assassinate two Iranian Political figures before a UN invasion less than 36 away. Story inspired by film "Sniper" with Tom Berenger
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the setting.

The deafening roar of the Blackhawk rotors drifted off as Capt. Mitchell and his civilian shooter, Roger Smith, trekked through the desert sand of northern Iran towards the city of Mashad where they would find their truck gassed up and loaded with weapons. This was a critical mission for Mitchell, as it was his last mission before he left the Ghosts to retire and it was crucial that they succeed, or the invasion of Iran could go terribly wrong very fast.

Yes, the UN had finally given Mahmud, now the Supreme Leader, a 72 hour deadline to allow weapon inspectors into his country or the Security Council would take Military action. It was 25 days after that had been said, and the UN lived up to their promise: bombers were hitting oil tanks and Military units round-the-clock and the Iranian nuclear reactors were history as a result of an Israeli commando raid. The UN was set to initiate an invasion in the next 36 hours, but the US Military had already put two pairs of boots on the ground to go into Tehran and assassinate two key figures in the Iranian Government: Mahmud, and the new President, Mohammed Abdel minutes before the invasion began to confuse the Iranian Military. After the shots had been taken, the two were supposed to take their truck and link up with the Australians landing from the Caspian Sea.

It was definitely a risky mission and an extremely challenging one, for Mitchell, the shot he was taking was from a mile away, but Smith's shot was about one and a fifth miles away. Smith had to be precise, so he was equipped with the prototype M-70 sniper rifle that fired a .70 caliber slug at a incredible rate of 2,550 ft/s. It was designed especially for US CIA personnel for assassinations but was put into limited service with the US Army also. Smith's target was Mahmud, and he had to hit him first shot, or they were screwed. Mitchell had to hit Abdel immediately after Smith's target was down, and he was using a common M-107 .50 caliber rifle that had proven to be of great service. They were also both armed with weapons of their choice: for Mitchell, he picked the XM8 Carbine which had to be dug up from storage for use and Smith decided to go with the new M-4A3D, which was the third model of the M-4 but with a drum magazine for extra firepower and was the only weapon in the world with a handgun in place underneath for last-second shots. They also both carried new Metal Storm Handguns of which there were only 100 in prototype form.

They were unarguably both equipped for a small war and were ready to do their duty. After about half an hour of marching, they discovered their truck on the outskirts of town and climbed into it without attracting attention. The truck was old and beat up on the outside, but it was secretly armored and loaded with extra weapons, ammo, and explosives. It was equipped with the latest satellite GPS navigation system and a radio link to HQ and two satellite phones. Both men put on their body armor and desert camo to look like Iranian soldiers so it would be easy to pass off the weapons in Tehran. They both also wore normal-looking sunglasses, but instead of 

just shielding their eyes, the CrossCom 3.0 was displayed in the lenses to help the soldiers identify their targets.

Once they were both armed fully and ready to go, Mitchell started the car and drove on the highway towards the capital city, Tehran.


	2. Chapter 2

When Smith and Mitchell finally reached Tehran, they were not surprised to see the streets almost completely empty of civilians and in their place were paramilitary troops. One of the guards at a crosswalk stopped Mitchell and asked where the two of them were going. Mitchell, not being able to speak fluent Arabic, said to the man, "Palace, sniper security relief."

"Identification?"

Mitchell and Smith both handed over their fake ID's and were cleared to proceed by the guard. Mitchell sighed and said, "Man, we're lucky that guy didn't shoot us, huh?"

Smith didn't respond, for he was still in shock that he was actually in Iran.

"Smith, you alright? Come on man, we got a job to do and I need you to be focused, okay?"

"Alright, I'll be ready, let's do this shit."

The truck tumbled through until they reached the shooting point for Smith which was a major factory smokestack that gave him a clear line of sight to the residence of Mahmud, who as far as Mitchell knew, was sitting in his office, talking with his advisors. Smith got out of the car and grabbed the case for his rifle when the guards on the streets weren't looking and proceeded to climb the stairs which would lead to the ladder to climb up the smokestack. Before Smith went inside the building Mitchell whispered to him, "As soon as you are sure Mahmud is dead, climb down that ladder as fast as you can and destroy your .70 with an incendiary grenade. I'll try and get here as fast as possible, make sure you're ready when I get here because I am not waiting, understand?"

Smith nodded and proceeded to climb up the stairs in the building then sighed as he realized how tall the damn tower was, so he started climbing two pegs at a time. When he finally reached the top of the "damn thing," he took a second to catch his breath, and then started to set up his weapon. The M-70 was a big gun even for a sniper rifle, weighing 25 pounds and with a length of about 4 feet, it had to be taken apart and reassembled in order to carry it. Once Smith set up his weapon, he turned it to face the residence of Mahmud, and sure enough, he could see him clearer than crystal sitting at his desk. With the humidity relatively low and the wind howling to the east, Smith set up his scope accordingly and then got on the radio to call Mitchell.

"Sierra-Mike this is Romeo-Sierra, come in over."

"Romeo-Sierra this is Sierra Mike, read you five by five, what is your SITREP?"

"Target is spotted and confirmed, ready to fire, over."

"Roger, same SITREP here, hold until 16:36 Zulu, over."

Smith looked down at his watch and saw that it was already 16:34.

"Roger that, will do, out."

Mitchell's shooting spot wasn't anything at all like Smith's, for he was standing a few feet from a window on the third floor of an apartment building, staring directly at Albed. The glass was as thick as the one for the residence of Mahmud, but since Mitchell was closer, he could use a .50 caliber gun with the rounds given a full metal jacket and an extra layer of powder to propel it faster. Mitchell, given his experience in combat and his time spent on the range, was sure he could hit this target, but was worried about Smith who had never fired a round in combat, only on SWAT. He could hit the target on the range, but Mitchell wasn't sure if the nerves he had got to him and would screw up his shot. He shook the thought from his head and went about making a last check on his rifle.

"Sierra-Mike this is Romeo-Sierra, I will Foxtrot One, you right after me, over." That meant Smith would shoot first then Mitchell would to confuse the soldiers. It seemed like Smith was ready.

"Roger that, Romeo-Sierra, standby to fire on my command. Standby…Standby…Foxtrot in 3, 2, 1, now!"

Mitchell heard the M-70 boom and then he fired his rifle. Looking through the scope, he saw that he hit his target in the head, killing him. He then planted an incendiary in the barrel of his gun and hightailed it out of the building to the truck which was on the street outside. He started the engine, peeled out from the curb and then checked in on the radio:

"Romeo-Sierra, target confirmed down, what is your status, over?"

"Sierra-Mike, same SITREP, waiting extraction on the road, ETA?

"Twenty seconds till extraction, over."

"Roger that."

By now the Iranians were shooting at Mitchell, but the bullets just bounced off the armor and he eventually saw Smith on the sidewalk.

"Get in the back and put the SAW on the roof!"

"Got it!"

Smith climbed in the backseat and opened the weapons compartment, revealing a M-249 SAW which he mounted a bipod on and opened the hatch door on the roof to prop it up and fire it. Once he started firing, his pulse pounded so hard that he thought it was louder than the gun, but he didn't stop firing. Mitchell turned on to a road that led north when a RPG flew out of nowhere and hit the side of the truck, immobilizing it and forcing them to climb out of the wreckage and continue on foot.

"Smith! Get your weapon out and get in this damn building now!"

Smith pushed himself off the ground and started to fire at the Iranian soldiers that had them cornered in the building.

"MITCHELL!! We need air support now!!"

"I'm on it Smith, I'm getting the Aussies to detach a few helos to us, they'll be here in five."

"Thank God!!"

"Keep up the fire though; they need the LZ as clear as possible."

"Got it."

After a five minute firefight and a couple of near missed bullets, an Aussie Blackhawk helo roared its way over the rooftops and opened up with the crew miniguns and eliminated at least twenty Iranians and the mop up was done by the Aussie snipers on board and the two of them on the ground. When the LZ was cleared, the two snipers boarded the chopper and it lifted off toward the Caspian, but unbeknownst to them, an Iranian RBS-70 was locked on and just fired.


End file.
